With Halloween just a few weeks away, our neighborhoods are filling up with creative displays and decorations. Pumpkins, inflatables, lights—and, of course, skeletons.
When I see those skeletons, I’m reminded of one of the strangest and most powerful visions in the Bible.
The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel received many visions from God, but perhaps none was more dramatic than the one recorded in Ezekiel 37. In the vision, Ezekiel finds himself in the middle of a valley filled with bones. As far as he can see, there is no sign of life.
In fact, Ezekiel specifically tells us that the bones were “very dry.” Whatever life had once been there was long gone.
Then God asks Ezekiel an unusual question: “Can these bones live?” From any human perspective, the answer is obvious: no. Dead bones cannot bring themselves back to life.
But God tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones. Suddenly, the valley begins to change. Bones come together. Tendons and flesh appear. Skin covers the bodies.
Yet despite looking alive, they still have no life in them. Then God breathes life into them.
It sounds a little like the plot of a Halloween movie, doesn’t it? But the vision has a much deeper meaning. In its original context, those dry bones represented the people of Israel, who felt hopeless and cut off. God was promising that he could bring life and restoration where they saw only death.
Centuries later, the apostle Paul uses remarkably similar language to describe our spiritual condition. He writes that we are not merely confused or lost because of our sin—we are “dead” in it.
Our brokenness has separated us from the God who created us, and no amount of self-improvement can solve that problem. Dead things cannot make themselves alive.
We need a miracle.
And Christians believe that miracle is exactly what God offers through Jesus. Paul writes, “We were dead in transgressions,” but God “made us alive with Christ.”
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, forgiveness is possible, our relationship with God can be restored and we can experience a kind of life we could never produce on our own.
So as you drive through the neighborhood this Halloween and see skeletons hanging from porches and scattered across front lawns, let them remind you of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. And ask yourself, “Where do I need God to bring life?”
The message of Ezekiel’s strange vision is ultimately one of hope. The God who brings life to dry bones is still able to bring life to what seems hopeless—and Christians believe that life is found in Jesus.
Michael Best is the Lead Pastor at Morgan Hill Bible Church and a member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance. He can be reached at mi*****@*****le.org.
